Railway construction.



No. 64i,l0i. Patented lan. 9, I900.

F HACHMANN BAiLWAY CONSTRUCTlUN.

(Application filed May 24, 1899.)

(No Model.)

we @2 02": Wade/"0b flacna zgg wrrn FREDERICK HACI-IMANN, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR OF SEVEN- EIGHTHS TO CHARLES CRISTADORO, OF SAME PLACE, AND JOHN M. BAASEN AND ELISABETH BAASEN, OF MILWAUKEE, XVISCONSIN;

RAlLWAY CONSTRUCTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 641,101, dated January 9, 1906. Application filed May 24, 1899. Serial No. 718,047. (No model.)

To all 1071,0111 it may concern:

Be itknown thatl, FREDERICK HACHMANN, of St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Construction; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of refer- Io ence marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention embraces certain improvements in railroad construction which are designed to afford a continuous bearing surface I 5 between the adjacent ends of adjoining rails notwithstanding that said rails may be sepa rated by contraction thereof or otherwise.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth, and more particularly pointed out in the appended Claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan View of the adjacent ends of two adjoining rails, showing myinvention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Figs. 3 and 4 are crosssections on lines 3 3 and 4 4 of Fig. 1.

As shown in said drawings, E E designate the adjacent ends of two adjoining rails of common form, which may be secured together 0 by means of fish-plates B of any usual or preferred construction, such as will permit the rails to have relative longitudinal movement when contracting or expanding under varying temperatures.

3 5 F designates a metallic connectin'gbar which extends between said rails and is located within recesses E E formed in the upper surfaces of the heads of the rails and preferably midway between the sides thereof. Said recesses of adjoining rails are arranged in alinement with each otherand are each desirably made somewhat longer than one-half the length of said bar F, so that when said rails are in contact with each other,

as when expanded, the combined length of such recesses is sufficient to contain said connecting-bar without endwise pressure being exerted thereon. Said bar is made of such of is flush with the upper surfaces of the heads of the rails, so that a car-wheel supported thereon will have contact equallywith the rails and bar. The bar will also be made of a metal which is equally hard and durable as the metal forming the heads of the rails, whereby wear on the bar and rails will be uniform.

A connecting-bar arranged as described serves to bridge over the space between the adjacent ends of the adjoining rails when separated, as by contraction thereof, and pre vent a car-wheel from striking the upper edges of the ends of the rails, the Concussion of which results in shattering the rails and the continued repetition of which acts to seri= ously injure the rolling-stock, it being obvious that when the wheel is over the space between said rails it is supported by the bar F, which prevents the same from dropping downwardly, as would be true if no such connecting device were present, said bar affording acontinuous supporting-surface from one rail to the other. Similarly the surfaces of the rails on each side of the recesses E E prevent the wheel from coming in contact, with the end walls of the recesses, as when the rails are contracted, so as to leave openings between said end walls and the ends of the bar.

In practice the intervening space between adjoining rails when properly laid will never be very great, so that a relatively small bar may be employed for the purpose of connecting the same without danger of the Weight carried by the wheel bending the bar between the ends of the rails. Said barFis connected with one of the -rails in such manner as to prevent the bar from rising or moving Vertically out of the recess therein, so that the upper surface thereof is at all times flush with the upper-surfaces of the heads of the rails.

As herein shown, the lower side of one of the recesses (the recess E and the lower side of the contiguous end of the bar are made of greater width than the upper sides thereof, and the lateral sides of said bar and the side Walls of said recess are inclined, as shown in Fig. 4, whereby said bar is held vertically immovable with respect to the rail E. The re- I00 cess E of the other rail is provided with vertical and straight side walls, as shown in Fig. 3, and the contiguous end of the bar is made generally rectangular in cross-section,whereby said bar is free to be moved vertically into and out of said recess E When the rails are united by the fish-plates B or other equivalent devices, the rigid connection of the bar with the rail E will serve to hold the bar in proper position with respect to the recess in the rail E. The end of the bar engaged with the rail E may, if desired, be slightly curved in its upper surface, as shown at f, Fig. 2, to permit slight vertical movement of said bar with respect to the rail without danger of injury thereto. Said bar may also, if desired, be slightly thickened at its middle, so as to raise the upper surface of the same. slightly above the surfaces of the rails in the part above the space between the rails.

With the construction described the bar may be readily inserted into and removed from the recesses of the rails, it being only necessary to move the rails out of alinement with each other and insert the bar longitudinally into the dovetail recess E of the rail E, after which said bar and rail E will be lifted to bring the free end of the bar vertically over the recess E and said free end of the bar dropped into said recess. Such construction renders it unnecessary to spread the rails apart, so that the improvement may be ieasily applied to the rails of a track already aid.

By the use of the construction described I am enabled to prevent concussion between the car-wheel and the ends of the rails when the latter are separated, which concussion acts to shatter the ends of the rails and produce an uneven road-bed, as well as very considerably shortening the life of the rail. Furthermore, such concussions greatly injure the car-wheel and shorten the life thereof and injure the mechanism of locomotives by the continued jarring and jolting caused by the uneven surface of the rails and also add materially to the discomfort and danger of travel. Again, it has been-found that the irregular surface occasioned by the separation of the rails wears the wheel between the flange and the tread thereof, thereby so weakening the same that often a wheel otherwise perfect must be discarded. With my invention, on the other hand, the supporting or bearing surface of the rails is made, in effect, continuous, so that the difficulties above pointed out are entirely overcomethat is to say, the effective life of the rails and the rolling-stock is greatly increased and the security and comfort of travel is enhanced.

The overlapping construction described may, if the parts are fitted tightly together, constitute a rail bond or connection adapted for use for connecting the rails of an electrical railway-traclgand which connected rails serve the purpose of a return-conductor.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination with two adjoining rails provided in the upper surface of their adjacent ends with longitudinal recesses, of a bar extending between said rails and supported in said recesses, the upper surface of which is flush for its principal part with the upper surfaces of the rails, said bar being longitudinally movable, but vertically immovable with respect to one of said rails and being free to be moved vertically into and out of the re cess of the other rail.

2. The combination with two adjoining rails provided in the upper surfaces of their adjacent ends with longitudinal recesses, of a bar extending between said rails and supported in said recesses, the upper surface of which is flush for its principal part with the upper surfaces of the rails, one end of said bar and the recess engaged thereby being of dovetail shape in cross-section and the other end of the bar having vertical sides which engage vertical side walls in the other recess.

3. The combination with two adjoining rails provided in the upper surfaces of their adjacent ends with longitudinal recesses, of a bar extending between said rails and supported in said recesses, said bar being longitudinally movable but vertically immovable with respect to one of said rails and being free to be moved vertically into and out of the recess of the other rail, the end of the bar engaging said last-mentioned recess having its upper surface inclined for a short distance to bring the same below the level of the upper surface of the rail.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this 18th day of May, A. D.

FREDERICK HACHMANN. Witnesses:

WILLIAM L. HALL, GERTRUDE BRYon. 

